SITE REVIEW: Hammock-Universe

613flavah

battlestar

Posts: 3289

Loc: Hurricane...

3+ Months Ago

Hey guys,

My boyfriend owns an eComm site, I designed it and the back-end was done by another programmer. It's been up for a while now, but I'd greatly appreciate any comments from other designers/programmers/etc, since we are always looking at improving the site in any shape, way of form.

I'm thinking of speeding up the site by replacing the left hand navbar with css text links instead, what do you guys think?

http://www.hammockuniverse.com

stevef

Novice

Posts: 19

Loc: UK

3+ Months Ago

Nice looking site, but a bit slow to load on 56k,
that home page has many graphics, have you optimised all of them? some were over 23K,
the products are all presented really well,
Dont know about the logo
Good PR and lots of keywords everywhere

Nice work!

613flavah

battlestar

Posts: 3289

Loc: Hurricane...

3+ Months Ago

Thanks for all your feedback

hrmm I thought I had optimized all my images strange. I'll have to double check that again this week. Thanks.

chiraag

Novice

Posts: 17

3+ Months Ago

hi its great if i lived in the us if i lived in the us id defenetly buy one lol i live in the uk

neksus

Mastermind

Posts: 2193

Loc: Canada

3+ Months Ago

you should definately change the nav to css, theres nothing you couldn't do there! the site is nice, very well written (as far as SEO goes). i like the pictures, but the watermark doesn't look too great. i understand you've gotta have it, but maybe try and find one that looks good? their seems to be navigation everywhere, it can be kind of confusing and easy to get lost on the site, think a sitemap might make things easier? oops there it is, right at the bottom hard to see. put it near the top also, some link styles would be nice (at least the defualt change color )

sammi

Novice

Posts: 19

3+ Months Ago

Like the site... Takes a qhile to load up but other then that a great page, like the pcitures and the layout itself... Keep up the good work.

613flavah

battlestar

Posts: 3289

Loc: Hurricane...

3+ Months Ago

Thanks for all the feedback guys. I'll take all your comments into account. The site is a bit slow because of the lame hosting company which we are thinking of switching at some point.

About the watermarks, yea I don't like them either I had thought about changing them so I'll have to talk to the site owner about that as well.

George_Gambino

Student

Posts: 89

3+ Months Ago

Nice site. You went with a design style that I think suits the product - open, airy, fresh. Looks good.

A big positive I see is that information is immediate and easily understood. In other words, the products are displayed in a quality and accessible manner.

Only issue (I think this has been mentioned already) I can see is with the loading of the header image on the main page. A tad slow.

Very nice work overall.

rajputkashyap

Graduate

Posts: 198

Loc: USA

3+ Months Ago

nice site overall, but some suggestion

1. site loads slow as all said

2. left navigation panel is bit narrow, as you can see text stick on left and right side, this applies to your third yellow column also "sales tax", as you can see there is no left-right margin for text

3. View cart and Image not aligned properly, should have image up and text at the beneath ( what i think personally)

4. you have inserted a divider after each product in maroon colur above "back to top". whats the purpose of inserting divider at the bottom where there is no product further.

5. blue nav links: after "hammock /stand combos" link, there is gap between top image and bottom links, this links bit odd to me.

these are the points what I * personally * think should be improved

I have recently completed one of ecommers site [url]indianhockeyshop.com[/url] .

thank you

kashyap

613flavah

battlestar

Posts: 3289

Loc: Hurricane...

3+ Months Ago

Thanks all for the updated comments I just printed the page and I'll discuss with my boyfriend this weekend

RBeau

Student

Posts: 69

Loc: Aurora, CO

3+ Months Ago

I didn't think I had too much of a problem loading the site... I am on cable though... so it may not matter for me... It looks very professional and I donb't think there is too much information there... If I wanted to buy a hammock online, as with any product I would buy online... I like to read about it.

Is that you on the hammock at the bottom of the main page?

613flavah

battlestar

Posts: 3289

Loc: Hurricane...

3+ Months Ago

LOL yes I'm in a few of the photos on the site Good eye!

andyy15

Newbie

Posts: 11

3+ Months Ago

I like the design but I think that you should improve your index page. It has way to many products on it. Takes so long to reach the bottom of your index page. Other then that I would center the site. Good job!

Moni-Q

Newbie

Posts: 8

3+ Months Ago

good design generally speaking. however I think way too much is placed on the frontpage. first thing is that it really adds to the load time (Im using dial-up), and secondly, sometimes too much information all at once can overwhelm and slightly confuse the user.

As for the graphics though, as I said. I like.

GSlinger

Proficient

Posts: 384

Loc: Ohio

3+ Months Ago

I am very impressed. It has good nav, i like the top and left nav stuff. and its a site for friggin HAMMOCKS!! thats great!! i luv hammocks!!! o god what i wouldnt do for a hammock right now!!

613flavah

battlestar

Posts: 3289

Loc: Hurricane...

3+ Months Ago

Thanks guys for the comments. I'm printing this page so I may review it all with my boyfriend later this week.

Any comments on the content placement I will let him know, since he did it all. I only designed and did some backend. He's proficient in SEO and so he must have his reasons for things being placed where they are but I'll definitely mention it to him.